Adelaide United coach, Carl Veart, has expressed his pride in Nestory Irankunda’s development following the confirmation on Tuesday the Club had agreed to terms with Bayern Munich for the sale of the winger.
The move will see the teenager join the German team following the completion of the 2023/24 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Veart emphasised Adelaide United’s commitment to developing young players and the need to continue to provide a platform for others.
Adelaide United CEO, Nathan Kosmina, also highlighted the considered process the Club undertook to ensure Irankunda’s sustained success in Europe and how fans should be excited to witness more of his skills while he remains at the Club.
Carl Veart on Bayern’s plans for Irankunda:
“Our understanding is he’ll go over there and they will look after him. They’ll put him in their accommodation for the first 12 months so he doesn’t have to worry about cleaning, cooking, all that other stuff, they will really look after him. You know, they’re one of the biggest clubs in the world. They have a great history of, of developing young players. And I think that’s another reason why Nestor and the club have gone down this path with Bayern.
“I know Nestor wants to hit the ground running when he gets there. He wants to have an opportunity to play in their first team. And, you know, this is what his next seven months here at Adelaide United is all about, getting him ready to make that next step.”
Carl Veart on Adelaide United’s involvement in the development of young players:
“We want to develop our young players, especially young South Australian players, and just provide them a platform that they can go on and express themselves. There’s no greater joy for myself as a coach and all of our supporters as well, to see these young players from South Australia and local clubs, to come through and go on to the big stage. “
Carl Veart on Irankunda’s growth and next challenge:
“I’m proud of what Nestor has achieved so far. But his challenge now is to do more. He’s an exciting young player and it’s important that we understand that he’s still quite a young player. And we don’t put too much expectation on him. Credit to him so far, that he’s dealing with a lot of that expectation that, you know, our supporters and everyone is demanding from him. But we’ve got to remember that he’s still 17. And it’s important that he’s still learning the game and is allowed to play the game with a smile on his face and experiment when he’s out there to work out what works and what doesn’t work.
“It’s not just what he does on the pitch. It’s what he does when he’s away from the pitch and Nestor is learning those things that he needs to do. But each person is different so Nestor has different challenges to other young players. And it’s a matter of him working out what’s best for him. We’ve given him a lot of time, and a lot of support as well. And that’s our main focus is, as I’ve said before, to get him best prepared to give him the best chance when he when it gets over there to have success.”
Carl Veart on Irankunda’s best assets:
“I think everyone can see that Nestory’s qualities are his speed and his power, but people seem to forget that he’s actually technically very good as well. And his ball striking is exceptional. And we saw that with his goal here a couple of weeks ago.
“I get excited when I just see him playing to his instinct and I think that’s the key for all of our young, players is that they have to play to their own instinct, and enjoy what they’re doing. Because that’s how you get the best out of yourself. And, you know, I’ve never really given Nestor too much information to play his football, just let him go out and play and then we try and help guide him to what his next steps are.”
Nathan Kosmina on the significance of the transfer to the club:
“It’s a club record transfer fee in terms of the financial mechanics of it, but it was very much a considered process, we had interest from all over the world, top five leagues in Europe. Clubs were very interested in Nestor, obviously, not many players at his age have the hyperreal and the success that he’s had. But we were very considered in terms of what’s the best pathway for Nestor and his family. And that’s why we were quite considered in our discussions with buyers and a number of clubs and looking at the non-financial aspects of the deal and what the pathway then looks like.
“Because what we want for our young players, and you’re starting to see it now with some of our boys that have gone overseas in the last few years, is sustained careers in Europe. The A-Leagues has a somewhat checkered history of players returning relatively quickly. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But we want to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to set the players up for success. And Bayern was ultimately the best destination for Nesto, for many of the reasons that Carl’s alluded to in terms of support they provide off the field, their track record of promoting youth, that they’re one of the biggest clubs in the world, but they take pride in developing young players. So it’s, it’s a significant moment in our history, yes.”
Nathan Kosmina on the transfer fee:
“We’ll leave the speculation on numbers to the media. There’s all sorts of numbers being bandied about. The fees are a byproduct of what we’ve been doing for the past few years, I’d probably say three to four years, particularly under Carl’s tenure. And then beneath that Anton Andrioli is our Head of Youth. We don’t go out looking to sell players, we try to develop players. And then a byproduct of that is you get interest. And I think we’ve been doing it really well.
It’s testament to Carl, in particular, on providing the right pathway for players to transition from youth football into senior football. We don’t throw them in the deep end. He manages that time well, as we’ve seen with Nestor not starting last season, which was a question that we were asked regularly, but we wanted to make sure that that he was ready for it so there’s a lot that goes into it.”
Nathan Kosmina on Irankunda remaining with Adelaide United for the rest of the season:
“That’s the unique scenario that we’ve got here. Nestor is only 17 and unable to transfer before his 18th birthday, which is in February. We’re in a position that we get to see a future Bayern Munich player playing at Coopers Stadium for the next seven months. 10 more home games here. That’s important, obviously, for our fans to enjoy, but important for Nestor, as well in terms of his development, he’s got a long pathway to prepare himself for the cultural and football shift that comes with moving to Europe. So that’s the next phase for us now and Carl and the team will continue to work through that. But the exciting element is that we’ll be playing a lot more games with Nestor in the squad.
